HowMuchIt / Plants per square foot
How many plants per square foot?
In a square foot garden, the answer is 1, 4, 9 or 16, depending on how big the plant grows. A 4 by 4 foot bed holds sixteen squares; the calculator counts the plants for your bed and crop.
Work out your square foot garden
A square foot garden is usually a 4 x 4 ft bed of sixteen 1 ft squares; each square gets 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants by size.
By plant size
Big plants get a square each: tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant. Leafy crops such as leaf lettuce and Swiss chard, and many herbs such as basil, go four to a square. Beets, peas and bush beans go nine. The smallest, such as carrots, radishes and green onions, go sixteen. Vining cucumbers grown up a trellis fit two per square.
The bed
The classic bed is 4 by 4 feet, divided into sixteen 1 foot squares, often with a grid laid on top. The original method used only 6 inches of soil; many growers now build beds about 12 inches deep for deeper roots.
Questions people ask
How many carrots in a 4 x 4 bed?
16 squares x 16: 256, if the whole bed is carrots.
How many tomatoes per square foot?
One per square.
Good to know
- A square foot garden is usually a 4 by 4 ft bed divided into sixteen 1 by 1 ft squares.1,2,3,4
- Each square gets 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants, set by how big the plant grows.1,4
- One plant per square: large crops such as tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage and eggplant.1,2,3
- Four plants per square: leafy crops such as leaf lettuce and Swiss chard, and many herbs such as basil.1,2,3
- Nine plants per square: beets, peas and bush beans.1,2,3
- Sixteen plants per square: the smallest crops, such as carrots, radishes and green (scallion) onions.1,3
- Vining crops grown up a trellis, such as cucumbers, fit two per square.2,3
- The classic square foot garden has only 6 inches of soil; many growers now build beds about 12 inches deep for deeper roots.2,3,5
How we checked this page
Checked on October 27, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- Square Foot Gardening, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions
- Square Foot Gardening, Kellogg Garden Products
- Square Foot Gardening, Bonnie Plants
- Extension Gardener Handbook, 16. Vegetable Gardening, NC State Extension
- FAQ - Square Foot Gardening, Square Foot Gardening Foundation